December 17, 2007

the carnelian post: In Brief

And here are the week’s top Cornell and college-related news that didn’t deserve a full story. Or maybe they do, that’s up to you.

IvyGate has quite the tip from a West Campus dorm: “a group e-mail to residents of Founder Hall details the ‘big health concern’ posed by those who pee in bottles and leave them in public spaces.” Might I say for all of us at The Sun, WTF? [12/13/2007]

The Ithaca Journal reports that the University’s Department of Policy Analysis and Management (PAM) will be helping to study the state of health care coverage in New York and make recommendations for how to provide coverage to the estimated 2.2 million state residents without it. [12/12/2007]

Harvard University totally revamps their financial aid. “Starting next year, a typical family earning $120,000 would pay about $12,000, down from $19,000 currently. For a typical family earning $180,000, the payment would drop from more than $30,000 to $18,000. Under the new plan, parents earning between $60,000 and $120,000 will pay a percentage of their income, rising to 10 percent. Families with incomes between $120,000 and $180,000 will have to pay 10 percent of their incomes, but no more.” Given that Cornell’s endowment is the smallest per student of the Ivies, it is but a pipe dream to see this happen to Big Red. [12/10/2007]

the carnelian post is a blog written by Sun Senior Editor Julie Geng, who can be reached at julie.geng@cornellsun.com. Feel free to send questions or comments her way.

Related

As eyes turn rapidly to New Hampshire, I can’t help but look at the results of yesterday’s caucuses and wonder how much students played a role (and will continue to play a role) in this year’s presidential race more than ever before. A January 2nd New York Times article asks a similar question, focusing on how many out-of-state college students would arrive early from their winter breaks to skew the results. Obama tried lure out-of-state students back: “He told students at the University of Iowa, if you’re going to be out of state, I want you to come back and caucus,'” while others, including Clinton, seemed less inclined to include non-Iowans. Approximately 220,000 people showed up to the Democratic caucuses, much more than the high-end prediction of 150,000; about 120,000 showed up for the Republican caucuses.

Looks like the much-feared winter storm didn’t entirely bury Ithaca this weekend. A University mailing list informed me just a moment ago: “Ithaca Area Spared Brunt of Weekend Nor’easter.” Watch out for that sleet if you’re still in the area. Cornell’s record of snow-clearing on campus isn’t a sterling one, as most students will attest.

The mass exodus out of Ithaca over the past week has weakened Cornell’s armies, however. Straight from the battlefield for the Ivy League Championship over at GoCrossCampus.com, Commander Aaron Martinez ’10 checks in with the carnelian post. So are we kicking Yale’s asses? “We’re behind. We need more people. But we’re definitely not beaten, and victory is still within our grasp,” he says, brows furrowed a mere two hours before he’ll send troops out.